Tomorrow Will Come
by em-witchwood
Summary: A series of CloudYuffie vignettes. [postgame]
1. materia

**-materia-**

People would always gasp or stare in disbelief when Cloud drew his sword. They couldn't imagine the slight young man carrying such a weapon with ease. Like it was made of paper, not steel. They didn't understand that compared to his other burdens, it was.

Yuffie understood, though. She saw the times when his shoulders slumped, his steps slowed, and it looked almost like he was wading through water, every step dragging against the mire of his past. Something about him took on a dreamy quality then, as if he was a specter of the past that haunted him. As if he was already gone, and what she was seeing was no more than a memory.

It didn't happen as often as it had before. He was learning to let go. More importantly, he was learning to let others help him carry the burden.

It was dusk and Yuffie sat on a low wall a few blocks away from 7th Heaven. She was waiting for Cloud, kicking her feet back and forth, the drumming of her heels on cement echoing loudly down the otherwise empty street. She had meant to catch him before he headed to Aerith's church but had missed him. He'd left Fenrir. She knew how to read his moods and decided that she would wait for him to return rather than trying to catch up to him.

It was only half an hour before she saw him step out of a side street in front of her. She leapt off the wall.

"Cloud!" Yuffie called, running up behind Cloud and jumping onto his back. She hooked her arms around his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his waist. His steps never faltered, and the only sign that he even noticed the ninja now hanging on him was an amused snort. Yuffie propped her chin on Cloud's shoulder. "Hey! Where's my materia?"

Instead of his usual "Wherever the hell you left it." he reached into his pocket and pulled out a softly glowing red sphere. He held it in front of her face, still not even turning his head to look at her. "I found it near Gold Saucer." He said.

Yuffie let go with one arm to take it, rolling it between her fingers, eyes wide. "I've never seen a summon like this before." she said wonderingly.

Cloud shrugged, then absently reached up to grip Yuffie's legs and hoist her back into a more secure position. She hadn't even realized that she'd been slipping. "I haven't tried it yet. I thought that you'd want to be the first. Since it's yours."

Yuffie squealed in delight, clutching it in her hand tighter. "Cloud, you're so awesome!" she said. She leaned forward and pressed her lips noisily and messily against his cheek in a series of exaggerated kisses. "Let's go try it!" She hopped down and grabbed his hand.

Cloud's lips curved into one of his rare smiles as she led him towards Fenrir.


	2. first kiss

**-first kiss-**

"Hey! Cloud!" she called, waving at him happily.

"Yuffie." She saw his lips form her name, but it was impossible to hear his quiet voice over the noise of the crowd. He made his way towards her, and she couldn't help but notice the way that the crowd parted for him, moving out of his way without seeming to realize that they were doing it. He was dressed casually, jeans, a t-shirt and a light black jacket with no sword in sight but it was like some instinct sensed the Jenova cells (or maybe it's just the man himself) and warned people: _This is a predator. Watch your back. _

Yuffie had learned to blatantly ignore that instinct when it came to him. "Where's Tifa?" She asked as he drew near.

Cloud jerked his chin back toward the rides. "With Marlene and Denzel." She caught the way his gaze swept from her head to her feet, and the intensity in his eyes would have made her blush had she been anyone else.

The moment Cloud was in range she attached herself to his arm, purposely invading his personal space. "Good. Us motion-sensitives have to stick together!"

His face was blank but his eyes were amused. "I suppose."

"Right! Come on! Let's go play some games!" She said, dragging him towards the booths. "You are now my date-"

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "When did I agree to be your date?"

"When you came over here. Now, as I was saying. You are now my date and as such you are obligated to win me things!" She hauled him over to an air rifle game and grinned at him. "Please?"

He sighed, but smiled at her and reached into his pocket for his gil.

By evening Yuffie had half a dozen stuffed animals and had dragged Cloud to a face painting booth. They now sported identical smiley faces on their cheeks. They were heading back to the others when they passed a stall selling Wutainese food. Yuffie's stomach growled loudly. Figuring they still had at least half an hour before everyone else was done, they ordered something to eat and went to sit on the empty bleachers.

They didn't talk. Despite popular belief, Yuffie was capable of being quiet. Especially while busy shoveling food into her mouth, which she did at a much slower pace than when Cloud had first met her. She actually chewed before she swallowed now and hadn't choked in a week- and even then it had been in extenuating circumstances. She had been talking with Vincent, and he had cracked a joke. Choking was perfectly reasonable.

All in all, Yuffie wrote the evening off as a success. Four years after Meteor there had been a five day long festival held in Kalm to celebrate the fact that they were all alive. Yuffie had insisted that they all go together. That first time it had been her personal mission to make sure that everyone had fun. Until they reached the rides and she found herself feeling queasy just looking at them. She tried just one. It had only spun her around once, but she'd had to swallow down her breakfast twice. Luckily, Tifa and Marlene shared her mission, so the day had not been a total bust when she stumbled back towards the booths. There she had come across Cloud, who was looking rather green, and for every year after they had spent the day together, occasionally joined for a few hours by Vincent.

It took Yuffie only until the end of the first day of the first year to realize the crush she'd had on Cloud since she first joined them had grown into much, much more. She figured it was probably how much time she'd been spending with him- or maybe the fact that her feelings had changed was why she'd felt compelled to spend so much time with him in the first place. Either way- she cherished the days that she had Cloud all to herself. She almost felt normal during them. Going to a fair with a guy she liked like most other young women her age. Only she was nowhere near normal and neither was Cloud, and they were comrades, not lovers, and since Tifa had been her competition, she hadn't thought that it would ever be different.

The second year she'd learned that she had no competition. Tifa herself had told her so.

A few weeks after the festival the older woman had cornered her at the bar while she waited for Cloud to return. Well, not cornered so much as sat down next to Yuffie and gave her a look that said it would be for the best if she stayed put. (She often saw Tifa use the exact same look with Cid and Barret. It was much more amusing when it was directed at them.) The martial artist had just stared at her for a minute.

Then: "You really like him, don't you?"

She had contemplated playing stupid, then denial. She finally decided that she respected Tifa way too much to lie to her. "Yes."

Tifa had looked away and busied herself with pouring them both a drink. After a few minutes, she spoke again. "I really loved him, you know? While we were chasing Sephiroth… and after. I had thought that we'd get together. It just seemed to be what we were supposed to do."

"Why didn't you?"

Tifa had shrugged. "At first it seemed like there was never the right time to bring it up. Cloud was still hurting because of Aerith. He was still trying to get himself sorted out- he's still trying. So I waited. We lived together and we worked together. We raised Marlene and Denzel together. We were a family." She was smiling softly into her drink, but the smile turned sad. "I wanted us to be a…different kind of family at first."

Yuffie had sipped her drink and waited.

"He drew away from me. Despite how much I tried to be there for him, he still drew away from me. I felt like I wasn't good enough to fill her shoes, and it hurt."

"You can't be Aerith." Yuffie had interjected. She thought of the flower girl. _No one could ever hope to take her place. _

"I know. I knew. After… you know, with Kadaj and them, when he finally decided to start living again, I realized that he just didn't think of me that way anymore. He loved me, but not the way that I loved him, and it had been that way for a while." A mirthless chuckle. "Those years that we were apart, we grew so different. I'm young where he's old and I'm old where he's young. We were both in love with who the other used to be. With the idea of us, of our promise. In truth… I think he sees me as an older sister now, almost a mother, and I... I'm not sure how I see him."

Heart to hearts had never been Yuffie's forte, and she hadn't been sure what to say. She'd tried to think of what she should say and asked "Why are you telling me this?" which wasn't quite what she had been aiming for, but she figured it worked.

Tifa had looked at her long and hard. "I want him to be happy Yuffie. He's my closest friend, and I want him to be happy. He likes you." She'd stood up, patted Yuffie's head and smirked. "Besides. You won't let him mope around, and he seems to be able to calm you down. I fail to see how this can be anything but good."

So armed with Tifa's blessing, Yuffie had went to the third year's festival and it had brought her to sitting hip to hip with a relaxed and happy Cloud eating noodles out of a cardboard box after a day of gaming and goofing that Cloud had whole heartily participated in, and whether Cloud had thought she was joking or not, she'd called it a date and he hadn't protested. She was fairly certain that Cloud was interested, but there was only one way to find out for sure.

Yuffie broke open her fortune cookie, stared at it thoughtfully, then reached into her pocket and pulled out the pen she'd snatched from a booth selling cheap jewelry. (Because they'd gypped her damn it!) She crossed out a few of the words and filled in her own, then scooted over to look at Cloud's. "What's it say?"

"If you continually give, you will continually have." Cloud read.

"Perfect." Yuffie said.

"What's yours?" Cloud turned his head towards her and found soft lips pressed against his own.

Yuffie pulled back, smiling shyly. "Give a kiss to the person sitting next to you."

Cloud looked down at her altered fortune, then smiled and leaned forward to return the favor.

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**Author's Note: **They're in chronological order, by the way. At this point Yuffie is 23 and Cloud is 28. Please tell me what you liked and what you didn't.


	3. moving in

**-moving in-**

He didn't really realize that Yuffie had moved in until it dawned on him that she had been at his house for three weeks straight and was slowly rearranging his living room. Also, his shampoo now smelled like some strange melon infusion and his cupboards were filled with junk food.

It had been Denzel and Marlene to point that last fact out to him in the form of whoops of joy as they found a huge bag of chocolate followed by "Yuffie won't mind, will she?" in-between bites.

"Yuffie won't mind, will she?" like Cloud would know. And he did.

He knew without a doubt that she would rummage around the cupboards, scowling, before calling out "Cloud! The little brats ate my candy, didn't they?" Without waiting for an answer she would sigh theatrically, then grab the bag that she had hidden behind the cereal and scribble "Buy me candy!" in her surprisingly tidy writing on the grocery list pinned to the fridge.

"She'll just make me buy her more." he muttered, turning back to his receipts.

Marlene giggled, Denzel sniggered and Cloud found himself glad that Reno wasn't over mooching with them, because the redhead found Cloud and Yuffie's relationship far too hilarious. He also had a tendency to drink all of Cloud's liquor and then flirt with him outrageously when Yuffie wasn't around (and sometimes even when she was), knowing that Cloud wouldn't hit him as long as he was drunk.

When Tifa stops by to tell Marlene and Denzel that it is time to come home and to fend off the kid's ritual pleas to be allowed to stay at Cloud's even though it's a school night, Vincent is with her. He has long since discarded his trademark red cloak, and today he is wearing black jeans and a red sweater under a long black wool coat and his long hair is pulled back into a ponytail. Both he and Tifa's coats are dusted with snow and Tifa's face is flushed from the cold. He immediately heads to Cloud, probably in an attempt to avoid getting dragged into the argument that will commence once Tifa reaches the couch where the kids sit.

Cloud and Vincent have grown closer over the last few years, and so when Cloud asks Vincent "When did Yuffie move in with me?" the older man just raises a single dark brow.

"So you finally noticed?"

Cloud sighs. "I guess so."

After that they go over the map that Cloud has spread across the table. They are heading out north of Corel the next day. Barret had found something he referred to as "big, nasty, and really damn ugly" and wanted Cloud and Vincent's help getting rid of it. Normally Yuffie would have volunteered to go with, but this time she had just grinned and told him to have fun. Tifa had also declined to go. "We need some girl time." she had said.

The door bangs open and Yuffie comes in, bundled into the coat she had snagged out of Cloud's closet and wearing more scarves than was probably necessary. "It's cold!" she whines, stomping her feet and slamming the door shut.

Tifa cuts off mid argument and smiles at her. "Hey Yuffie."

"Hey." Yuffie smiles back at her, then eyes Denzel and Marlene with distrust. "What are you runts still doing here?"

"Um-"

"You're trying to wheedle your way into staying overnight, aren't you?" Yuffie asks, placing her hands on her hips and glaring.

"Um-"

"You know what you guys are? Cloud-hogs, that's what. You guys steal him all day but it's just not good enough, huh?"

Marlene sniffs and looks down her nose at Yuffie. "You're just selfish."

"And? Go home, brats." Yuffie says, making shooing motions with her hands.

"Aw." They complain but get up and pull on coats and gloves. "You're mean." They tell Yuffie, but they hug her goodbye anyway.

Tifa grins at her and Cloud leans over to Vincent to whisper conspiratorially. "Those two have been spending way too much time together."

Vincent nods. "Indeed."

Tifa gives Cloud a quick peck on the cheek when he comes over to say goodbye. "Be careful tomorrow." she says. She places her hand in the crook of Vincent's elbow and waves goodbye.

Cloud helps Yuffie out of her scarves and they laugh at how many she's wearing. Then Yuffie heads for the kitchen and Cloud to his maps to put everything away. After a few minutes of cupboards banging open Yuffie shouts "Cloud! The little brats ate my candy, didn't they?"

Cloud smiles. He places his maps on shelves where they have to compete with Yuffie's magazines for space. When he enters the kitchen Yuffie is writing with one hand and digging around in a bag of candy with the other. Cloud watches her and tries to figure out when she became such an integral part of his life. She has slowly and stealthily slid into his routine, into his home, into his heart and then happily set up her own space there. He finds that he doesn't mind.

"What?" Yuffie asks when she notices him staring.

He crosses the room and wraps his arms around her waist, kisses the top of her head, then the bridge of her nose, and finally her lips. "Nothing." he says. "I'm glad you're home."

"Me too." Yuffie smiles and kisses the underside of his jaw. Then she says, "Now make me dinner."

And Cloud can't help but laugh.

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**Author's Note:** I'm not satisfied with how this turned out. Please tell me what I could do to improve it!


	4. panic

**-panic-**

She wanted very much to say that she was not scared. Well, more she wanted very much to say she was not scared and mean it. She had told herself she was not scared for two days now to no effect. She was tempted to say that she had never been more afraid in her life, but then she remembered standing at the bottom of the crater and peering down and down and down into the sickening green glow, knowing Sephiroth was waiting for them, and she decided that she had never been more _nervous_ in her life- but she was still pretty damn afraid.

Across the table from her, Vincent shifted, waiting patiently for her to spit out whatever she had deemed necessary to wait for Tifa to leave before asking.

"Um. Uh. I have something that I want to ask you." Yuffie began, and then almost smacked herself.

Vincent's expression quite clearly said _Obviously. I'm certain you didn't come here for the great conversation._ Yuffie just knew it did. Reno spent an excessive much of his free time at 7th Heaven and Vincent was picking up on the Turks irritating sarcasm. Or maybe his own was finally coming to the surface. Unfortunately, none of Vincent's habits seemed to be rubbing off on Reno.

"Well. It's something that I think only you would know. It's, um, kind of about Cloud."

"Then mightn't Cloud know?" Vincent asked.

Yuffie stared intently at Vincent's left shoulder. "I'm not sure. I don't want to ask him to find out."

Vincent was a very observant person, and so Yuffie's gut-churning worry had not escaped his notice. His carefully bored expression softened slightly. "Let's see if I know, then."

Yuffie nodded. "Um. You know all the, um, enhancements and experiments that that rat-faced bastard performed on Cloud." Her cheeks flushed slightly. "Do you know if they would-" She swallowed, tried again. "Do you know if they would affect any children he fathers?"

Vincent blinked and looked almost shocked for a moment, then his expression went back to three shades off blank and he titled his head. "Am I to assume that you're pregnant?"

"What? I can't just ask for future reference?!?" Yuffie snapped, and damn, it felt good to be annoyed rather than embarrassed. She tried to hold onto the irritation, but it slipped away.

"So you are?"

Yuffie blushed harder and nodded.

"How... far along are you?" he asked, and it made Yuffie feel a little less embarrassed when she saw that he found the subject slightly awkward too.

"A month and two weeks." She reached up and twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. She had been growing it out and it reached her shoulders now. She told everyone that she was just trying something new, wanting a change, but really she was hoping it would make her look older, more mature- more like her mother. She wanted her mother.

"I'm afraid that I can't tell you if it would or not. Sephiroth and I are the only other two that Hojo has altered as drastically as he altered Cloud, and neither of us have fathered any children."

"What if… Could…" Yuffie struggled to find the right words, and it felt odd to do that, to not just blurt out the question however it first formed in her mind. She didn't know how to put her fear into words. Her hands twisted the edge of her sweater, white knuckled and almost shaking.

Vincent seemed to know what she was asking anyway. "I don't think you have to worry about you or your child's health. But we should probably watch you both carefully, anyway." He reached across the table and covered her hands with his own, stilling them. "Yuffie…" he paused, as awkward with comforting people as she was with thinking before she spoke. "You haven't told Cloud yet, have you?" he asked, but it was not a question so much as a suggestion.

Yuffie looked at their hands, his so fair against hers, unnaturally so. Like Cloud, no amount of sun exposure would ever tint the color of his skin. Would her child be the same? "I'm scared."

Yuffie honestly didn't know why it had been Vincent she thought of when she wanted someone to talk with, when she had wanted someone to tell her it would be alright. Tifa would have been the more logical option, really. Vincent was cold and distant, but next to Cloud, he was the member of AVALANCHE that Yuffie loved most, the one she felt closest to.

Vincent smiled then, the expression rare but all the more powerful for it. "It's alright to be afraid, Yuffie." he told her, his voice surprisingly gentle.

"That's good." she said. She put her face in her hands and laughed even as the tears seeped out from underneath tightly closed lids. "That's good, because I'm fucking terrified." Of far more than what carrying a SOLDIER's child could do to her.

The back door opened and Tifa stumbled inside, stomping the snow off her feet. Her eyes focused and Yuffie and she immediately stepped forward, worried. "Yuffie? What's wrong?"

Yuffie looked up at her, smiled. "Nothing. Nothing. I'm okay now." The ninja stood and pulled on her coat.

"Are you sure?" Tifa asked, setting the bag of groceries she was holding on the table and reaching out to wipe away Yuffie's tears with the sleeve of her jacket.

Yuffie nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine. I, uh, gotta go. Um, Cloud's coming back tonight, and, uh… I gotta go make dinner. And stuff." Yuffie babbled while she made her way to the door. "Um, goodnight. And thanks." Then she was gone, the door clicking shut behind her.

Tifa looked at Vincent. "Explain, Mr. Valentine."

Vincent thought a moment, not sure if he was supposed to share the information that Yuffie had divulged or not.

The door opened and Yuffie leaned inside and shouted, "And no telling!" before leaving again.

Vincent gave Tifa his best "What can you do?" shrug and stood to help her put away the groceries.

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**Author's Notes:** Okay. One of the suggested themes for the next chapter was panic, and for some reason this is the first thing that popped into my mind. (Also, I think Yuffie and Cloud would make hilarious parents.) What did you think? Critique and feedback is very much appreciated.


	5. sharing the news

**-sharing the news-**

The bottle of sake sitting on the counter was tempting. It might have taken the edge off her nervousness. She paced the kitchen, realized she was pacing, and threw herself into a chair, grabbing a book off the window ledge and flipping through it. She read the first chapter three times before she gave up and tossed it away. She tipped back in her chair precariously, staring up at the ceiling. She could hear the buzz of distorted voices coming from the television in the living room, could have sworn she turned the TV off, but it didn't surprise her that she had forgotten. She was getting spoiled by the way Cloud picked up after her.

When she had called him an hour ago, he had said he would be home soon. Asked her if she needed anything. _A good dose of Vincent's detachment,_ she had wanted to say. Instead, she had said she was fine and reminded him to swing by Tifa's and say hi to Barrett. Now she wished she had told him that, yes, she needed something; she needed him to hurry his ass home! So she could stop stressing out about how she was going to tell him when he arrived. This was not a subject of conversation she was used to. Hell, they _never _discussed _any_ aspect of their relationship. They just felt their way through it. They had never actually even said they were _in_ a relationship. Nothing had ever been confirmed, named. Even when they had started sleeping with each other. There had been a single, awkward moment when Cloud had paused, always cautious, worried about the lack of protection, and she had said, "I got it taken care of. Don't worry." Now she thought that maybe he should have worried. It would have saved her from her panic now- or at least put it off a few more years.

Maybe some people would call it unhealthy, the lack of discussion. They would say that Cloud and Yuffie had problems communicating- but they were wrong. They communicated just fine. They usually had no problem saying when something was bothering them- and when they did, they could read each other so well by now that it didn't matter. So what if they never verbally acknowledged any change in their relationship? So what if they weren't like other couples? No movies, flowers, chocolates, and sweet nothings. Yuffie had always hated it when guys tried to romance her. It felt fake, forced, and made her feel awkward. Despite popular belief, she was a warrior and a woman who had seen too much, too much, and she didn't want empty promises and scenes out of dime novels. She just wanted someone who understood her, appreciated her, and knew what to do when she woke screaming in the night.

She just wanted Cloud. And maybe a lifetime supply of those saltwater taffy's her mom used to give her. And some whisky. Damn it, how was she going to go nine months with no alcohol? And put up with Reno? Wait- screw Reno. How the hell was she going to put up with her _father_ once he… once she… The fact that she was going to eventually have to tell her father that she was pregnant hit her with more force than Sephiroth's super nova.

She heard Fenrir as Cloud pulled into the garage and she moved so all four legs of her chair were once again on the floor. All the different ways she had thought of telling Cloud flew out of her mind as she heard him kill his bike. Not that she'd had many to begin with.

She stood as she heard Cloud opening the back door, clenched and unclenched her hands once. She heard him set a few bags of groceries on the washer as he took off his boots, dropping them next to hers. Next, she knew, would be his sword, then his jacket, followed by his gloves. She knew exactly how his hair would look, golden spikes slightly weighted down by the damp, but not enough to truly affect their determination to defy gravity. One morning, two years ago, she realized, she had woke him up by trying to flatten his hair and asked him, honestly curious, just how the hell he got his hair to stay like that. He had responded, honestly irritated, by asking her if she had any suggestions as to how he could make it stay down. He probably regretted the question a week later when she whipped out a can of hair spray and a straightening iron. It had worked, too. For about three hours.

"Hey Yuff." Cloud said as he entered the kitchen. He set the groceries on the counter.

Yuffie opened her mouth and then closed it again. A thousand half-finished sentences flashed through her head. _Cloud, there's something- Cloud, you see- Cloud, I'm- _

Cloud tilted his head, worried by her silence. Usually the moment he walked in the door she started chattering at him. "Yuffie?" He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Having no idea what to say or how to say it Yuffie did what she did best- blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "You-" she jabbed a slender finger into his chest "have to marry me! Soon! And then you have to say that you married me three months ago, because when I tell my father that I'm pregnant he has to think that I was bloody married!"

Cloud blinked at her in complete incomprehension for a second, then his eyes widened in shock. "You're-"

"Yes!"

The moment between Yuffie's snapped affirmation and Cloud's reaction seemed endless to her. There was blind, unreasonable panic- _I said I had it taken care of but I screwed up and he's going to be pissed and he probably didn't mean to stick with me so long probably just couldn't think of how to get rid if me and and and- _before Cloud smiled and pulled Yuffie into his arms. "That's great!"

Yuffie felt the hope and elation she had pushed down stir. "It is?"

Cloud, noticing her uncertainty, pulled her closer and nodded. "It is."

"But- But I'm not cut out for this!" Yuffie protested, feeling a fear that far outweighed the fear of what the Jenova cells could do to her. "I'm selfish and immature and lazy and-" _I'm not like Tifa and Aerith and my mom. I'm not sweet and understanding and all those other things mothers are supposed to be and I'll screw this up!_ "-you always have to pick up after me and take care of me-"

Cloud laughed and caught her face in his hands. "We'll figure it out, Yuff." he said, leaning in and kissing her until she lost her panicked train of thought. Damn him, she had been getting up a good head of steam, too.

"You're not… worried?" she asked.

"Of course I am. But… I'm happy, too." He kissed her again, this time on the tip of her nose.

Yuffie looked at him then, studied him as intently as she had that first meeting, when she had been summing him up, trying to decided if he was worth attacking. The inhumanly bright eyes and the pale angles of his face, delicate, almost fragile, but so beautiful that it sometimes stopped her in place, made her wonder how she had ever managed to bag a guy like him. A face that hadn't changed much since the first time she had seen him, marred by neither wrinkles nor scars even after almost ten years of living by his sword. There was a smile playing at the edge of his lips, and there was once a time when she'd had to coax it out of hiding, but now it appeared just at the sight of her. Seeing the happiness dancing in his too-bright eyes eased away her worry. It always did.

"Cloud. I love you." she said, and realized that it was the first time she had ever said the words.

His smile widened. "I love you, too."

Yuffie grinned. "Now, how are we going to tell my dad?"

Cloud, the strongest man on the Planet, ex-SOLDIER, and savior of the world two times over, paled.

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**Author's Notes:** Ugh. I have the flu. I hate being sick. Makes my brain feel like someone transmuted it into lead. Anyway. Did this feel disjointed towards the end? I probably should have waited until I felt better to write it. Oh well. See anything I could do to improve it?


	6. blessing

**-blessing-**

There were flowers in the back yard. A thousand vibrant blossoms spilling over the edge of the flower beds that they'd always meant to do something with but never really go around to it. Paler blooms carpeted the yard from the fence to the base of the stairs. Yuffie was certain that they hadn't been there the night before. She was also fairly certain that she hadn't put them there.

She stepped out into the yard, pulling her robe shut tighter against the early morning chill. The grass was damp beneath her feet. When she was in the middle of the yard she crouched down and fingered a delicate white flower. Her eyes slid closed and she inhaled the sweet fragrance. It made her remember- _wide green valleys beneath brilliant blue skies that she'd never seen could never have seen would never see because they had been destroyed long before she was born –_sitting in the gardens with her mother as a child.

There was the sound of booted footsteps, of a heavy braid brushing against cloth.

Yuffie looked up. "Aerith."

The flower girl smiled. "Yuffie." she said, her voice exactly as Yuffie remembered it. Soft and sweet and kind. It was a voice that had always put Yuffie at ease when she was scared or angry. "Sit and talk with me for a while." The flower girl lowered herself gracefully to the ground and Yuffie followed her example.

Yuffie waited for Aerith to speak. She wasn't sure exactly what you were supposed to say to your dead friend when they popped into your garden. Her dead friend who looked exactly as she had before the sword went through her, except for a depth in her eyes and a lightness to her movements because she no longer carried the Planet's fate on her shoulders.

Aerith laughed. Her laughter reminded Yuffie of temple bells on New Years. Slates were wiped clean in her laughter, people were given the hope of starting over, of moving on. "This… isn't what I had expected." Aerith told her. She laughed again. "Not what I expected at all."

"Me either." Yuffie admitted.

Aerith smiled at her, so beautiful it hurt. Yuffie had never begrudged Cloud his love for the flower girl. Not even when she had been young, amazingly selfish and brimming over with false arrogance. Aerith had been the only one in AVALANCHE to notice the ninja's crush on their not-quite-stable leader. She had noticed almost before Yuffie did. She hadn't been kind about it- that would have been insulting. Instead, one night while they had lay on the end of Yuffie's bed, drinking orange soda and laughing about Cloud and Aerith's Wal Market escapade, Aerith had suddenly said:

"I think I really love him, you know."

"I know." Yuffie had been resigned to defeat for the first time since she had run away from home, because Aerith was beautiful and smart and determined and kind and just _so wonderful_- no sarcasm at all. Yuffie hadn't even been able to be bitter, because Aerith had been a friend from the beginning. A better friend than Yuffie had ever had before.

"You like him too, right?"

Yuffie had debated for a moment on shaking her head and denying any attraction, but that would have made her feel like a stupid, immature teenager- she might have acted like one, but in truth she had long since left her childhood behind- so she just nodded, feeling uncharacteristically shy.

Aerith had then startled her by making a toast, "May the best woman win!" She had said it like she actually considered Yuffie competition. When Yuffie had looked puzzled, Aerith had said, "As long as he's happy, I'll be happy. So no matter which of the three of us he chooses, I'll stay by him. And I think you and Tifa will, too." She'd giggled. "Of course, I'd prefer it were me!"

And it would have been, had been, until– _they all moved but not fast enough and the sword tore through and Sephiroth smiled a madman's smile because she was leaving _–Aerith had died, and left the spot beside Cloud vacant.

"Are you happy, Yuffie?" Aerith asked.

Yuffie didn't need to think about the answer at all. "Yes." She was happier than she'd ever been before.

"I'm glad." the Cetra said. She reached out and brushed the tips of her fingers across a small green bud that bloomed at her touch. "For both of you."

Yuffie swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat. "Thank you."

Aerith reached out and took Yuffie's hands in hers. The touch was feather light and burned faintly, but not unpleasantly. "You'll take care of him for us, won't you?"

Yuffie almost asked who 'us' was, but then she remembered a worn out SOLDIER uniform and a second hand sword and thought that she might know. She nodded.

"Good. We were so worried about him." the flower girl smiled and leaned forward so their foreheads were touching. "We love him so much. And he loved us. And now he loves you."

"Loves you." Yuffie corrected.

"Of course." Aerith smiled, and her eyes seemed to reach deep inside of Yuffie, to the core of her fear, her doubt. Aerith's hand moved to the still flat plane of the ninja's stomach. "You're going to have a beautiful baby." She reached up and stroked Yuffie's hair. "So don't worry."

"Aerith…"

"We're leaving him to you, then." Aerith pulled away. "I'll see you later. Make sure to have lots of embarrassing Cloud stories to tell us!"

Before Yuffie could say anything else she was alone in the garden, dew soaking through her robe.

The back door opened. "Yuffie-" There was the sound of bare feet padding across the porch. "Hey. Where'd all the flowers come from?"

Yuffie turned and saw Cloud looking around, perplexed. She stood slowly, plucking a few flowers before making her way to Cloud. She looped her arms around his neck and drew him down for a good morning kiss. "Aerith sent her blessing."

There was a flicker of sadness in Cloud's eyes, followed by happy surprise. "That was nice of her."

Feeling calm and content, Yuffie nodded. "Yeah. It was."

Later while Cloud made breakfast Yuffie searched around for a vase, and failing to find one stuck the flowers in an empty sake bottle that she then sat on the kitchen window sill. A soft breeze came through the window and filled the room with the soothing scent.

_I'll take good care of him, _she thought._ I promise._

_I know._

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**Author's Note:** Yes. I had to put Aerith in here. I love Aerith. And Zack. Zack will eventually get a moment in this. I won't be able to help myself. I am a Aerith/Zack/Cloud shipper at heart.


End file.
